#12 UAlbany Men's Lacrosse Opens Practice, Prepares For Opener on ESPNU

The University at Albany men's lacrosse team held its second practice of the season on Thursday in snow flurries that made it hard to see the ball.
The two-hour workout had a strange conclusion. The players made snow angels on the Fallon Field turf.

"That was fun," said head coach Scott Marr, whose team opened practice on Wednesday, when classes resumed. "(Sophomore attackman) Kyle Brunk is from Arizona and had never made a snow angel before, so he had to make one. It was great. He's 6-5, so he made a pretty big one."

While encouraging his players to enjoy themselves, Marr is reminding the Great Danes they're out to prove their breakthrough 2007 season was no one-year wonder.

"You have to continue to win to earn respect," Marr said. "We have to go out and re-prove ourselves, almost, so it isn't considered a fluke. We're not rebuilding at all. We have a lot of guys back from last season."

National pundits have agreed by choosing UAlbany 12th in the preseason polls. The Great Danes open their season at defending national champion Johns Hopkins on Feb. 23, a rematch of UAlbany's stunning upset that began its run last season.

Except this time, UAlbany won't have attackmen Frank Resetarits and Merrick Thomson, the two leading scorers in program history, who graduated. They combined for 113 goals last season, 46 percent of the team's total, as UAlbany had a program-record 15 wins and advanced to the NCAA Division I quarterfinals for the first time.

The season ended with an overtime loss to top-ranked Cornell only one game from the Final Four in Baltimore. Junior attackman Corey Small, who scored 24 goals in part-time duty last season, said that memory lingers.

"We don't want to forget last year," Small said. "We want to look at last year to improve on what we did last year and see if we can make it to the Final Four and national championship game (in Foxborough, Mass.)."

Small moves into Thomson's spot as a left-handed attack and highly touted 6-4 freshman Brian Caufield of Bay Shore assumes Resetarits' role.

"Our biggest issue is the scoring issue," Marr said. "Typically, when you lose your leading scorer, it hurts you. We lost two kids with over 500 (career) points combined. ... We feel confident we have kids capable of (scoring), but they haven't been in those situations yet."

Although UAlbany will remain an up-tempo team, Marr said his team will compensate for its offensive losses by tightening its defense.

The Danes return a solid core with senior midfielder Jordan Levine, a preseason All-American, senior defenseman Craig McDonald and senior goalkeeper Brett Queener, who was granted an extra year of eligibility. Courtesy: M.SINGELAIS


UAlbany Opens Season @ National Champion Johns Hopkins on ESPNU

As part of its multiyear agreement with Johns Hopkins University lacrosse, ESPNU will continue to televise every home game of the men's team and because of that deal the University at Albany will help open the network's 2008 season.

The Great Danes will be at Johns Hopkins on Feb. 23 to kick off ESPNU's regular-season college lacrosse schedule. The game is scheduled to start at noon.

UAlbany was ranked 12th in the nation in Lacrosse magazine's preseason rankings. The Great Danes made their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in the past five years by winning the America East Conference championship in 2007. The Great Danes, who finished 15-3 overall, dropped a 12-11 overtime decision to top-ranked Cornell in the quarterfinal round. The NCAA matchup was rated last season's top game by Lacrosse magazine.

Johns Hopkins is ranked third in the preseason poll.